Pages

Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Trust Queen Bardugo to present me with another book boyfriend. Basically just, Here Uma since you don’t have enough book boyfriends already, why don’t I present to you Nikolai, who also goes by Sweetheart or Handsome or oh, Prince Perfect. Also let me make him the King of sass, snark and sarcasm. Add to that a dollop of gentlemanliness, an inventor’s brains and a heart of gold.

Three words. UMA IN LOVE.

“Vasily laughed. “I can’t decide if you’re a fearmonger or a coward.”“And I can’t decide if you’re an idiot or an idiot.”

“I don't think-""Clearly. Why start now?”

This book is basically Nikolai being Nikolai and turning my knees to jelly. Yes yes, the book has Alina go through amazing character development and embracing the darkness within but let me tell you one thing- Alina may be the Sun Summoner but Nikolai is the star of this book. He makes the book what it is.

“Watch yourself, Nikolai,” Mal said softly. “Princes bleed just like other men.”Nikolai plucked an invisible piece of dust from his sleeve. “Yes,” he said. “They just do it in better clothes.”

Mal basically annoyed me to no end. He wants Alina to go back to who she was before the Darkling, before she found out she was Grisha and throughout the book he’s complaining how they never get to spend time together. YOU JERK, YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS BATTLING THE DARKNESS WITHIN, PUBLIC PRESSURE AND BASICALLY A BOATLOAD OF SHIT WHILE TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD, AND YOU’RE GONNA JUST PLAY THE SCORNED LOVER CARD?? Look I get it, Mal feels the more Grisha Alina becomes, the farther she moves from him but he needs to understand that the power is a part of her and if he wants her, he needs to accept all parts of her and not just the parts he likes. And while Mal plays the scorned lover he does all these stupid things that basically made me want to feed him to Rusalye. (You ask me what that is? Read the book.)

The Darkling actually became the dark guy he’s supposed to be in this book but I was sad we saw so little of him. But when we do see him we see a man with immense power willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants; kill as many as it takes. But every now and then he also shows other sides to his personality that made me so curious about him. He truly believes what he is doing to be the right the thing. He sees himself as a patriot and Ravka as a place for just the Grisha. And I do believe that while The Darkling manipulated Alina throughout, he did/does have feelings for her; in his own twisted way. In book one I adored The Darkling but now I hate him and I’m still waiting for a reason as to why he is what he is.

When The Darkling wasn’t around to spread darkness, the plot took care of the job. The entire atmosphere is dark and chilly in Siege and Storm, making the story more intense. I was so glad the book didn’t suffer from “second book syndrome”. It wasn’t a filler book only meant to build up to the finale. This book has new characters and a complex storyline with twists everywhere. I did kind of suspect this big twist at the end but it was still amazing when it actually happened. The world is in even more factions than before and new alliances are made and broken throughout the story.While Shadow and Bone introduced us to the world and presented the problem, Siege and Storm adds a couple more problems to the original one, and while book one dealt with the secrets and politics within the Little Palace, book two deals with the secrets and politics of the whole of Ravka and the lands beyond.

“I've seen what you truly are," said the Darkling, "and I've never turned away. I never will. Can he say the same?”

This book is oh so quotable. Bardugo writes with magic, creating these beautiful descriptions that step off the page and into the eyes of the reader. I love how the book had so many characters and yet every character has a unique voice. Even if names aren’t mentioned the reader would always know which character was being talked about. I absolutely adored the dialogue in this book.

As the King of Sass, snark and Sarcasm, Nikolai basically had the best dialogues and quite the way of delivering them. No people, I absolutely can’t get enough of him.

Even Alina and Mal had this dark and wry humor to impart on us in the darkest of times and I was glad for it.

- Nikolai

- Alina’s character development

- Nikolai

- The Darkling being the King of darkness

- Nikolai

- The plot

- Nikolai

- The writing

- NIKOLAI

(okay I’m gone)

- Mal

A beautifully written sequel to Shadow and Bone that enraptured me from page one. I enjoyed the wonderful character driven plot and rich writing that only Queen Bardugo can bring to life.

Oh and also, Nikolai is mine. Any other contenders will be fed to Rusalye. Thank you for your cooperation.